The English Novel 1770-1829: A Bibliographical Survey of Prose Fiction Published in the British Isles

Abstract

Abstract This bibliography provides the first complete and copy-based record of the production of new English fiction in the period 1800-1829. The main listings include 2,256 entries, all but forty of which (where no surviving copy could be found) are based on examination of a first edition of the actual novel described. As a result of ten years of Anglo-German co-operation the bibliography makes especial use of the recently discovered collection of English novels of Schloss Corvey in Germany, whose holdings in English fiction 1796-1834 almost certainly exceed those held by any other library, including the British Library. In particular the bibliography is able to record over 100 titles which investigations have suggested are entirely unique to Corvey. Numerous libraries have also been visited in Britain and North America, leading to further novels which have fallen from the record. In offering a full transcription of title page details, the bibliography offers a much sharper view than has been previously available of the ways in which novels were projected to their audience when originally published. A variety of new attributions are made, while at the same time existing attributions are challenged, An extensive historical introduction by Peter Garside offers a comprehensive overview of the main aspects of production, marketing and reception of fiction in the Romantic era.